Dillon’s pick this week is the ad above for “Confederate Family Insurance.

It was so offensive, that we realized it couldn’t possibly be true.  Indeed, it is from Spike Lee’s faux documentary “Confederate States of America,” that looks at the US as thought the South had won the Civil War.

It’s extreme representations, however, provide perfect fodder for a budding multiculturalist-Dillon is 8-to hone his skills in recognizing inequities in advertising.

So, Dillon, what is wrong with this ad?

Um, at first they called him “master of the house.”  And in the beginning, a servant came to bring him his drink.  He looked at his wife and child as property, and everything revolved around him.  The gardener in the end was African American–but they were showing him really just to show it.  Plus his house looked like a plantation.

Many a parent will bemoan the stereotypic representations in children’s movies, TV, and commercials (Videos are so rife with issues we don’t even go there!), but how do you talk about them with your children?  For Dillon, he recognizes when something is sexist or racist, but sometimes doesn’t know why. 

The tricky part is when he asks me what I think–so that I allow him to form his own opinions, without potentially passing along my own biases.  But at least we are talking and forming language, and that is a great place to start.

What did you talk about with your kids at breakfast this morning?